Most Chinese shares fell on Wednesday and turnover shrank to a 15-week low as supply and policy worries continued to weigh on the market, though a rebound by some blue chips boosted the main index. The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index ended up 1.18 percent at 5,601.783 points, off a low of 5,469.761.
But losing stocks outnumbered gainers by 494 to 347, and turnover in Shanghai A share shrank to 75.8 billion yuan ($10.2 billion), its lowest level since mid-July, from 83.0 billion yuan on Tuesday.
The index bounced from near important technical support at October's intra-day low of 5,462 points. But many analysts doubt itcan stage a strong rebound from that level any time soon. "The market is quite likely to seek further support at 5,300 points," said Li Shiming, analyst at Galaxy Securities.
"Regulators have not approved the launch of new mutual funds for weeks and this, plus concern about more policies to cool the economy, are causing smaller turnover and weak sentiment."
China Railway Group, a big construction contractor, on Wednesday launched an initial public offer in Shanghai that sources familiar with the deal said could raise near $3 billion. Big demand to subscribe on November 20 and 21 perhaps as much as 1 trillion-yuan will drain money from the market and could knock it back at least temporarily, as did PetroChina's much larger IPO in late October.
Concern about monetary tightening, after a sharp rise in central bank bill yields on Tuesday and with October inflation data due next on Tuesday, is also dampening the stock market.
PetroChina edged up 1.10 percent to 40.43 yuan on Wednesday after plunging 9 percent on Tuesday. It soared 163 percent when it listed on Monday. Among other recovering blue chips, oil refiner Sinopec gained 2.24 percent to 24.21 yuan after tumbling 8.78 percent on Tuesday. The biggest bank, Industrial & Commercial Bank of China rose 4.78 percent to 8.55 yuan.